The Bowling Green is the great formal lawn that fronts the Kurhaus, a long rectangular plaza framed by two colonnaded buildings and ending at the casino's grand portico. It was laid out in the early 19th century to imitate the English aristocratic landscape style — though no one ever actually played bowls here. Today it is the city's main outdoor venue, used for concerts, the Christmas market, the Wine Festival, and Sunday afternoon strolls.
The two flanking colonnades — the Theaterkolonnade and the Brunnenkolonnade — are the longest colonnades in Europe, dating from the 1820s. The cafes along their lengths have been pouring coffee for nearly two centuries. Few places in Germany give a better sense of 19th-century spa-resort grandeur.